Various means have been employed to remove bulk material from the holds of a self-unloading ship. One such prior art arrangement is shown in Canadian patent No. 867,178 (and in corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 3,604,574) issued to John D. Leitch on Mar. 30, 1971 for Apparatus for Unloading Bulk Material from a Storage Enclosure, such device being an improvement over the apparatus shown in Canadian patent No. 877,127 (and in corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 3,384,248) issued Aug. 3, 1971 to Jack D. Leitch and Nolan H. Williams for a Ship Unloading System. In these prior art arrangements, bulk material is unloaded through a central row of hoppers at the bottom of the ship holds onto an endless belt in a single tunnel at the longitudinal center bottom area of the ship. The prior art reclaimers used in these prior art ship unloading systems are of a fixed lateral width and extend across the full width of the hold. Such reclaimers can operate only in the part of the ship in which the sidewalls of the holds are at least as wide as the reclaimer. In the usual bulk carrier, the ship's sides converge at the bow and the stern. In a ship designed to use the prior art reclaimer, the cargo hold sidewalls are spaced a uniform distance apart and little, if any, use is made of the converging wall bow and stern areas of the ship for cargo holds.
It is an object of this invention to maximize the load carrying capability of a ship by providing a forward cargo hold with forward converging sidewalls, two laterally spaced rows of hoppers and a reclaimer which will remove material from the floors between the rows of hoppers in the forward and other holds.